Come take classes with mushroom educator Dr. Gordon Walker through Cabrillo Extension: November 15th 2026

Mushroom Identification 101: How to Forage Safely in California

Foraging for mushrooms can be fraught with danger, if you don’t know what you are doing. However, if you learn the fundamentals of identification, understand the risks, and follow a basic set of practices, you can quickly learn how to safely forage for mushrooms. Empower yourself with education instead of falling victim to fearmongering and mycophobia. This course will cover the basic categories of mushrooms and how to recognize them based on their morphology (how they look). We will discuss how to differentiate edible vs. toxic species in general, as well as what habitats and seasons that they occur here in California. This class is intended for beginners, but is also useful for experienced mushroom hunters who want to expand the scope of edible species that they forage for around the state.

11/15/2026

Sunday

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Mushroom Cooking: Theory, Practice & Taste Testing

Join Dr. Walker in the commercial kitchen at Cabrillo College to learn the theory of how to clean, prepare, and cook a variety of cultivated and wild mushrooms, and how to make sure your mushrooms are edible and safe to eat. After a brief walk (weather permitting), and learning the theory, you will put your knowledge into practice by cooking mushrooms yourself and preparing a dish to share with your classmates. You will be cooking with a selection of cultivated and possibly foraged  mushrooms collected by Dr. Walker. Come away from this class with solid fundamentals and methods for how to cook different types of mushrooms varieties.

11/15/2026

Sunday

01:00 PM - 05:00 PM